Jamie Samuelsen's blog: Matthew Stafford's hat a non-issue

February 22, 2014

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) walks on the sidelines during the overtime period of an NFL football game against the New York Giants in Detroit, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) / AP

Jamie Samuelsen, co-host of the “Jamie and Wojo” show at 6 p.m. weekdays on WXYT-FM (97.1), blogs for freep.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can reach him at jamsam22@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter @jamiesamuelsen and read more of his opinions at freep.com/jamie.

Many have been making a big deal out of the way Matthew Stafford wears his cap. What are your thoughts on that?

If Michael Sam had announced he was gay in the middle of the football season, it would have made news, but he may not have been on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

If Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart had gotten into the altercation with the Texas Tech fan during the heart of the NFL playoffs, it would not have gotten the round the clock coverage that ESPN gave it.

The message is clear. When making news in sports, it’s best to do it at a time when other sports are going on; otherwise it runs the risk of blowing up into a bigger story than in needs to. The NHL is off. The NBA is dead in this town. Baseball is just starting up. And the college basketball’s most exciting time of the year is still a few weeks away.

There is a void in sports news right now. So when Free Press reporter Carlos Monarrez talked to Mike Ditka about the Lions, the public seized on a rather minor note about Stafford’s hat styles. And because we’re desperately searching for things to talk about, it became a much bigger story. (Trust me – I work in sports radio. We are desperate to find things to talk about.)

Ditka shared his thoughts on Stafford and said that he needs to assume all the roles of leadership on a football team.

“A lot of it is what you do on the field, certainly. But I think a little of it has to do with appearance, too,” Ditka said.

“I’m not knocking him. I’m just saying that’s the first thing I would tell him if I inherited him. When you’re going to go do an interview, put it on like it’s supposed to be on, not backwards, sideways, whatever way they put them on anymore.”

This from a coach who once posed on the cover of ESPN Magazine dressed as a groom with his prized Saints draft pick Ricky Williams, who was dressed as a bride.

Ditka is a legend and a Hall of Famer. He’s well respected in football even though he’s started to become a caricature of himself as a broadcaster. He’s old school. He believes in doing things the right way. So from that standpoint, he makes sense.

But winning in football is about eliminating the distractions, eliminating the outside noise and focusing on the little things that matter. A player’s sexual orientation doesn’t matter. A player’s life away from the game doesn’t matter (assuming he lives within the law). And a player’s hat selection certainly doesn’t matter.

Michael Irvin wore a full, white, mink coat off the field when he played for the Cowboys. He won three rings and is in the Hall of Fame. Joe Namath wore panty hose in a television commercial, he won a Super Bowl and has a trophy in Canton. Terry Bradshaw married a famous figure skater (Jojo Starbuck) and starred in Cannonball Run. He’s in the Hall and has four Super Bowl titles on his resume. And we’re talking about Stafford wearing a hat backwards?

The funny thing about Stafford is that he actually wears his hat forward, a lot. If you ever catch a shot of him at a Pistons game or on Twitter, he has the omnipresent Tigers hat on with the brim right out in front. I assume Ditka has no issue with that. When he’s playing the game, he puts the hat on backwards and normally has it on backwards when he addresses the media after the game. It never struck me that there was anything too that until Ditka made an issue of it. In fact, I think most media appreciates it because Stafford meets with us right after the game as opposed to making us wait and dressing to the nines. And that of course is an issue that you as the fan couldn’t care less about. But I digress.

This is just another petty issue that Stafford has to deal with until he starts winning and winning consistently. When he loses and throw picks, critics wonder about side armed passes and backwards hats. When he throws for 400 yards, hits Calvin Johnson for two touchdowns and runs in a game-tying touchdown when nobody else on the field is expecting it, everyone looks the other way. Stafford faces the heat admirably. He’s never shirked from questions, criticisms or interviews. He knows the score and he knows what is expected of him.

But until the season starts in September, we’re all left to dissect his future, his cap number and, unfortunately, his cap direction. Some of it matters (his cap number). Some of it doesn’t (cap direction). In the absence of anything else to talk about, we’re left to talk about this. It’s a waste of time. It’s a waste of breath. And it means nothing to what Stafford will or won’t do with the Lions this season. As someone who played and coached at the highest level, Ditka should know better. But in this ridiculously slow period in sports, Ditka gave us all some red meat to chew on. I just choose to spit it out.